RIANNE Malixi launched her 2024 campaign with a bang, firing a vibrant 69 to beat India’s Avani Prashanth and win the Australian Master of the Amateurs Championship crown by one at the Southern Golf Club in Braeside on Friday, Jan. 12.
Showing steely resolve, Malixi produced a clutch birdie on the par-3 16th to break off a tie with Japanese Nika Ito, who played in a flight ahead.
While the Japanese committed a costly miscue on the 17th, Malixi matched Prashanth’s pars in the last two holes to escape with the victory.
She pooled a four-day total of seven-under 285 that included rounds of 70, 72 and 74.
Prashanth, who beat Malixi and a slew of Korean aces to win the individual crown in the Queen Sirikit Cup at the Manila Southwoods last year, finished with a 70 and a 286 for second while Ito settled for a 71 and solo third at 287.
The title win was a great relief for Malixi after coming off a season marked by “near-misses.”
The 16-year-old ICTSI-backed star highlighted her remarkable comeback from four strokes down off local ace Lion Higo after 54 holes with a frontside 32 before holding her ground to prevail.
Malixi posted six Top 10 finishes in 14 ranking tournaments worldwide in 2023, including a runner-up finish in the US Girls’ Junior in Colorado.
The victory thus primed Malixi up for next week’s Adidas Australian Amateur at the Yarra Yarra Golf Club and Keysborough Golf Club in Victoria and the Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific Championship on Feb. 1-4 at the Siam Country Club in Pattaya, Thailand.
As the seventh winner of the event, Malixi also gained her a spot in the Webes Players Series Hunter Valley, a fully-sanctioned Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia and WPGA Tour of Australasia at the Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort in New South Wales on Feb. 15-18.
Higo, who initially held what had seemed to be a huge four-shot cushion, faltered with bogeys in the first three holes of the par-73 layout, tumbled to fourth with a 39 and never recovered. She limped with a 76 and wound up fourth at 288.
Ito, who set the pace in the first two rounds, regained the solo lead with a birdie on the par-5 10th but dropped into a tie again with Malixi with a mishap on No. 14.
The Filipina ace, who nailed her fourth Ladies Philippine Golf Tour crown in iloilo last year, then seized the moment as Ito double bogeyed No. 15, snatching the solo lead in a thrilling turn of events.
But Malixi flubbed a par-putt bid from six feet on the 15th, enabling Ito to re-join her at the top, setting the stage for a pressure-packed finish in the last three holes.
